Dorchester Times: Study: A Quarter Of U.S. 26-Year-Olds Living With Parents

Friday, February 7, 2014

Study: A Quarter Of U.S. 26-Year-Olds Living With Parents

Every now and again, we feel compelled to share one of those attention-grabbing stories that spotlights trends in our American culture, and perhaps even trends in and around Dorchester.

A new survey released today finds that almost one in four (22.6%) 26-year-olds are still living with their parents. The survey was conducted over a ten year period.

This is embarrassing news for our nation.

According to one news story we found on the survey, there is a common theme between those young people who are now on their own and independent of their parents -- they did well in school and stayed in school. Generally those with more schooling were less likely to be living at home.

However, the study found that student loan debt from four-year schools, along with a decrease in young people getting married as major factors in the increase of millennials living at home.

The survey of 26-year-olds also found:

40% of them had been unemployed for one or more months since January 2009.
13% reported they were neither working for pay nor taking post-secondary courses
60.2 % of those who had enrolled in college reported they had taken out student loans.

We are thankful that here in Nebraska -- especially our corner of Nebraska -- most young adults are responsible, productive and hard-working. Many of their counterparts across the country could learn something from them.

5 comments:

AnonymousFebruary 7, 2014 at 6:26 PM
That picture and this story are completely insulting to those of us who need to live at home to get back on our feets!!
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AnonymousFebruary 7, 2014 at 7:30 PM
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Losers
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AnonymousFebruary 7, 2014 at 7:58 PM
insulted feets hopefully turn into embarrassed feets!
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AnonymousFebruary 8, 2014 at 12:33 PM
I'm guessing that first anonymous was pure sarcasm. If not, God help us all!
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David the BohunkFebruary 9, 2014 at 10:34 AM
Don't think every adult child living at home is sitting around sucking a pacifier. The "survey" really distorts reality. But, of course, most "surveys" do.

PS-Dorchester Times: Please keep your fine blog local and real. Don't insult those who are struggling.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."